Fable may have fallen short of expectations when it hit the Xbox, but Fable II …

The journey is the reward

The original Xbox quickly became known as a box full of shooters and sports games after its launch in 2001. This lack of diversity is one of the chief reasons why Sony's PlayStation 2 carved out a lead during the early stages of last generation's console war. Because of this image, Microsoft was hopeful that one exclusive RPG worthy of the Xbox platform could make a difference. That game was Fable.

Peter Molyneux of Lionhead Studios, industry veteran and acclaimed mind behind Populous and Black and White, was charged with the task of realizing that RPG. With a blend of firearms, swords, and spells, a visual engine based on moral choices, and the claim that every action the player made would forever influence the world around him, Fable slowly gained an incredible amount of hype.

Unfortunately, the game failed to deliver all that fans had hoped it would be. Molyneux's vast, sweeping promises didn't match one to one with what the game actually contained, and fans were left bitter by the lack of features, the limited morality engine, and a relatively short campaign. For all the incredible ideas, the game was limited at launch. An expansion that followed the original release a year later did wonders for improving the original, but most had all but forgotten what was to be the Xbox's great RPG.

Fast forward a few years and the times feel remarkably similar. Microsoft has thrown a ton of money into Fable II, even going so far as to scoop up the development studio behind it. Molyneux has spouted countless head-in-the-clouds dreams, high-level philosophies, and all kinds of rhetoric to hype up the sequel to the Xbox's premiere, exclusive, Western RPG in Fable II.The man nearly cried when discussing the game's canine companion, conducted a symphony when discussing the game's combat, and produced flow-charts and conjured complex diagrams to explain the game's simulation system. And in the end, his grand ideas are now pressed and printed en masse: a simple DVD for your enjoyment.

A bigger world with more to see and do makes Fable II a vastly-improved successor to the original.

But where the original game failed, its successor triumphs. Believe it or not, much of what Molyneux has spent the last two years pitching to journalists and fans has come to fruition in what can only be described as one of the most engaging RPG experiences of the year. Fable II may not be the best RPG ever made, and it lacks depth in a few key areas, but it succeeds in creating an experience that is undeniably fun, fresh, and rich in content. In many ways, it feels as though the original Fable was only a demo for Fable II and not a proper predecessor. It even succeeds in a way that many games don't in that, like the prototypical socially-perpetuated title The Sims, it creates stories unique to the player that beg to be retold to friends outside of the game.

However, this praise comes with one strong caveat, one reality that every one who sinks time into the game will have to face. Fable II can be summed up with the following Chinese proverb:

The journey is the reward.

Though there is plenty to see and do in the game, it's all the asides, the flower-smelling rather than the flower-picking, that prove to be compelling and not so much the main quest and the end goal. As though it were a fantasy-based Grand Theft Autotitle or even something like Oblivion, much of the fun in Fable II is made by the player, and completing the story isn't where the real rewards from the game are reaped. The game plays how you want it to play, more so than most as a result of the numerous complex systems at work in the game world, and your decision to plow through the story and to skip getting married or playing the business game or augmenting weapons will vastly change your play experience.

To opt out of any of these other endeavors is to miss the very essence of Fable II. So little of the game is forced on the player, and it's incredibly easy to miss out on the content that's right there waiting to be discovered. As a result of the game's morality and character development systems, there will surely be content that's glossed over or inaccessible. This is a game that warrants multiple play-throughs and heading off the beaten path at every possible moment. With that in mind, let us dissect all that is Fable II.